Thank you for buying this record. What follows is its documentation: the
pressing identified, the matrix / runout transcribed by hand from the dead
wax, and the condition as assessed before it was listed. It is yours to keep
with the record.
— Paul, Vinyl Curator
Tom Jones
Tom Jones Live! At The Talk Of The Town
c. 1968-1971 (repress; original recording/release 1967) · Decca LK 4874 · Mono · UK · LP · 33 1/3 RPM
Pressing details
| Label | Decca |
|---|
| Catalogue number | LK 4874 |
|---|
| Year | c. 1968-1971 (repress; original recording/release 1967) |
|---|
| Mono / Stereo | Mono |
|---|
| Country | UK |
|---|
| Format | LP |
|---|
| Speed | 33 1/3 RPM |
|---|
| Genre | Pop/Vocal - British Pop, Live |
|---|
| Producer | Peter Sullivan |
|---|
| Conductor | Johnny Harris (Music Director) |
|---|
| Performer / Orchestra | Orchestra directed by Johnny Harris (backing musicians uncredited by name on jacket) |
|---|
| Musicians | Tom Jones (vocals), unnamed orchestra/backing band directed by Johnny Harris |
|---|
Matrix / Runout
Side A: ARL-7855-2A
Side B: ARL-7856-2A
Condition
- Cover
- EX
- Vinyl
- EX
Variant chronology
1967 - UK Decca mono, deep-groove label, no tax code, GEMA printed beneath BIEM NCB (true first pressing)
1968-c.1971 - UK Decca mono, non-deep-groove label, J/T tax code added, full ffrr text label <- this copy
c.1973-on - later Decca UK boxed-logo reissues and overseas licensed pressings (e.g. World Record Club Australia unique-cover edition)
This Pressing
UK Decca mono repress (c. 1968-71) of LK 4874 - full-text ffrr label with J/T tax code and non-deep-groove pressing; not the true 1967 first-pressing deep-groove issue.
The Album
Recorded live at London's Talk of the Town cabaret venue, this 1967 album captured Tom Jones at the moment he was moving from teen-idol pop hitmaker into a full-blown Vegas-style showman, backed by a tuxedoed orchestra under Johnny Harris. The set mixes Jones's own hits - "It's Not Unusual", "What's New Pussycat?", "Green, Green Grass of Home" and the Bond theme "Thunderball" - with soul and R&B staples by Sam Cooke ("Ain't That Good News", "Shake") and the Chris Kenner/Fats Domino classic "Land of a Thousand Dances", alongside show-tune and pop standards like "Hello Young Lovers" and "That Old Black Magic". Produced by Peter Sullivan, Jones's regular Decca producer through the decade, the record documents the powerful, theatrical baritone and stagecraft already making Jones one of Britain's biggest live draws, a persona that would soon carry him into a long, hugely successful Las Vegas residency career. It stands as a notable document of the mid-1960s British vocal-pop and blue-eyed-soul crossover, showing a UK pop star confidently working American R&B repertoire for a supper-club audience, and remains a well-regarded snapshot of peak-1960s Tom Jones as a live performer rather than a studio hitmaker.
Tracklist
Side 1
1. The Star Theme (Rhodes)
2. Ain't That Good News (Cooke)
3. Hello Young Lovers (Rodgers, Hammerstein)
4. I Can't Stop Loving You (Gibson)
5. What's New Pussycat? (Bacharach, David)
6. Not Responsible (Mills)
7. I Believe (Drake, Shirl, Graham, Stillman)
8. My Yiddishe Momme (Yellen, Pollack)
Side 2
1. Shake (Cooke)
2. That Lucky Old Sun (Smith, Gillespie)
3. Thunderball (Barry, Black)
4. That Old Black Magic (Mercer, Arlen)
5. Green, Green Grass of Home (Putman)
6. It's Not Unusual (Mills, Reed)
7. Land of a Thousand Dances (Kenner, Domino)
The Label
This copy shows the red Decca ffrr label with full 'MADE IN ENGLAND · THE DECCA RECORD CO. LTD.' rim text, the BIEM/NCB box with 'GEMA' printed beneath it, and a 'J/T' purchase-tax code bracketed with the matrix number, on a non-deep-groove pressing. The true 1967 first pressing of LK 4874 carries deep-groove labels with no tax code at all; the J/T tax code was only added to Decca UK labels from 1968 onward, and this pressing's -2A stamper suffix (versus -1W on the first pressing) confirms a later cutting generation. The still fully-worded 'ffrr' label design (predating Decca's early-1970s blue boxed-logo redesign, seen for example on 1970 releases like LK/SKL 5045) places this copy in the c.1968-71 repress window - a genuine but non-first UK mono pressing.
Fidelity
Recorded and mixed for a live cabaret release, mastered from Decca's original tapes with engineering credited to Bill Price; collectors rate original-era UK Decca mono ffrr pressings of this title as solid, punchy period cuts well suited to the big-band-with-vocal live sound. This copy is a mono repress with -2A stampers rather than the first-cut -1W deep-groove pressing, so it sits a notch below the earliest stampers in outright transfer generation, though still ahead of later-1970s boxed-logo reissues. No audiophile remaster of this specific live title is documented, so vintage UK Decca pressings remain the reference copies for collectors.
Notes
This is a UK mono Decca pressing of LK 4874, but not the earliest issue: the true 1967 first pressing carries a deep-groove label with no tax-code text, whereas this copy shows the 'J/T' purchase-tax code Decca began adding to labels from 1968 onward. Both sides carry -2A stampers, a later cutting generation than the -1W stampers on the first pressing. The still full-text 'ffrr' label design, predating Decca's early-1970s boxed-logo redesign, places this as a c.1968-1971 UK repress rather than a true first pressing or a later-1970s reissue.
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